Fortune - Fortunehttp://fortune.com
Fortune 500 Daily & Breaking Business NewsTue, 03 Mar 2015 20:20:46 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/dab01945b542bffb69b4f700d7a35f8f?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png - Fortunehttp://fortune.com
Fortunehttps://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/fortune/assets/images/fortunelogo.pnghttp://fortune.com25040BlackBerry says its new phone will last 25 hourshttp://fortune.com/2015/03/03/blackberry-leap/
http://fortune.com/2015/03/03/blackberry-leap/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:18:11 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1013435]]>BlackBerry on Tuesday unveiled a new touchscreen phone it says can get up to 25 hours of use on a single charge.

The BlackBerry Leap will cost $275 when it goes on sale in the U.S. in April. The Leap marks BlackBerry’s return to big touchscreen devices after releasing the throwback-style, keyboard-equipped Passport last fall.

The Leap is a clear attempt by BlackBerry to hang on to its diminishing share of the enterprise device market. BlackBerry once ruled the enterprise roost, but Apple is the new king of that domain. BlackBerry is pitching the Leap as a get-things-done device for the productivity-inclined.

"BlackBerry Leap was built specifically for mobile professionals who see their smartphone device as a powerful and durable productivity tool that also safeguards sensitive communications at all times,” said Ron Louks, the president of device and emerging solutions, in a statement.

BlackBerry’s market cap is a shell of its former self. While shares once traded for as much as $230 in 2007, shares have hovered around $10 since about 2012.

The smartphone competition really isn’t much of a competition, it turns out. A new report from market research firm IDC says more than 96% of smartphone users own a device running either Android or Apple’s iOS operating systems.

“Many of the same drivers were in play for Android and iOS to tighten their grip on the market,” said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phone team in news release. “A combination of strong end-user demand, refreshed product portfolios, and the availability of low-cost devices - particularly for Android - drove volumes higher.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone represents 3.3% of the market while BlackBerry -- once the king of the handset -- has fallen to less than 2%.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco ordered Typo on Wednesday to pay BlackBerry $860,600 in sanctions, plus attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in connection with Typo’s violation of the injunction.

BlackBerry had filed a suit in January 2014 against Typo, co-founded by “American Idol” host Seacrest, alleging that the physical keyboard it makes for some of Apple’s iPhone devices infringed on the Canadian smartphone maker’s design patents.

In March, the court issued a preliminary injunction that barred Typo from selling the physical keyboard iPhone case.

A spokeswoman for Typo in an email said that the ongoing litigation and fine relates to the initial Typoproduct and does not impact its since redesigned keyboard product.

“It has no impact on the Typo 2 product currently in the marketplace, or our other planned product releases for the tablet,” the company said in an email, declining to comment any further on the matter.

BlackBerry, which had asked the court to fine Typo $2.64 million for violating the injunction, declined to comment on the matter, stating merely that the court order speaks for itself.

The court, in an order issued on Wednesday, said that Typo had sold nearly 19,000 of the keyboards after the preliminary injunction had been issued.

Typo argued that BlackBerry has not shown that it has lost any sales as a result of Typo’s conduct and that a fine would constitute an undeserved windfall for BlackBerry BBRY.

The judge agreed it was unclear to what extent BlackBerry had been damaged, but added that “Typo’s not so clever attempts to evade the court’s preliminary injunction” were quite transparent.

“The amount of sanctions awarded is only a third of what BlackBerry sought and is directly tied to additional revenue that Typo could have expected from its illegal conduct,” said judge Orrick, in the order.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/02/04/ryan-seacrests-typo-fined/feed/0Host Ryan Seacrest speaks on stage during the American Idol XIII 2014 Finale in Los Angelessnyderfortune4 Super Bowl ads that should have never airedhttp://fortune.com/2015/01/27/4-super-bowl-ads-that-should-have-never-aired/
http://fortune.com/2015/01/27/4-super-bowl-ads-that-should-have-never-aired/#commentsTue, 27 Jan 2015 17:23:11 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=963363]]>The Super Bowl is unlike any other marketing platform because the scrutiny is exceptionally high. Viewership is enormous and people focus on the ads; many people watching the Super Bowl aren't all that interested in football. They wait for each spot and then laugh, applaud, or criticize it.

Watch more about Super Bowl advertising from Fortune’s video team:

This behavior is unique; it's unlike viewers of each ad on American Idol or CSI Miami. People do their best to tune out the commercials entirely. They expect the ads to be annoying. The attention that Super Bowl ads draw --combined with the massive size of the audience--is why marketers pay millions for the opportunity.

This year, advertisers are spending approximately $4.5 million for each 30-second spot to reach a huge audience. With all the attention, many advertisers are careful when it comes to Super Bowl spots. They work hard to develop a piece of advertising that will capture attention and deliver a message. For many marketing executives, this is a defining moment of their career, as a strong showing can lead to a promotion while an unsuccessful ad can result in termination.

Given all the scrutiny, you would think that marketers would only air spots that work. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Some have little impact on the business. A few damage the brand. The single biggest problem: in an effort to be creative and break through the clutter, advertisers lose sight of strategy and air spots that shouldn't be on the game.

Here are four spots that we believe should never have run.

Groupon's Tibet and 'amazing fish curry'

In 2011, Groupon GRPN ran a spot featuring actor Timothy Hutton. The ad played off the strife in Tibet. "The people in Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy," explained Hutton. "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought a Groupon.com we are each getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15."

The ad generated an immediate and significant negative backlash as people accused the company of making light of a very serious human-rights issue. The company eventually apologized and pulled their future advertising efforts.

Groupon appeared to be affected by the experience; they didn't run another TV commercial until 2014.

HomeAway.com’s test baby

Vacation home rental company HomeAway AWAY ran a spot in 2011 called "Test Baby" that featured an infant being thrown into a plate-glass window. The key moment in the ad featured a close-up of the baby being smushed against the glass, but this ad didn't make a lot of sense considering that mothers play a big role in selecting vacation destinations. The ad spawned a lot of criticism, in which viewers accused HomeAway of insensitivity. People noted that head injuries are debilitating for thousands of people, while other thought HomeAway was joking about violence toward children. Some appeared to even think HomeAway was encouraging child abuse. As HomeAway's CEO explained in his apology letter, "Some of the people we talked to were concerned that our ad trivializes violence toward children, while others felt that the imagery was too shocking to be appropriate."

HomeAway has not run a Super Bowl ad since.

GoDaddy's sexy nerd

GoDaddy DADY has a long history of running controversial Super Bowl spots, but the firm's 2013 ad was particularly notable featuring model Bar Refaeli kissing a rather awkward and unattractive nerd. The goal was to illustrate how GoDaddy combines sexy and technical expertise.

The concept might have been sound, and the spot certainly attracted attention, but the feedback was overwhelmingly negative. This was a case where people remembered something unappealing and that overwhelmed the message. At the Kellogg School of Management, we call that "negative amplification."

GoDaddy changed course after the ad. In 2015, the brand's Super Bowl spot will feature a puppy.

BlackBerry’s bleh ad

Once a technology darling, BlackBerry BBRY has fallen. Faced with tough competition, the firm has struggled to define a space it can own.

In 2013, BlackBerry ran a Super Bowl spot to introduce a new smart phone and get people thinking again about the brand. It was a key moment for the company.

Unfortunately, BlackBerry's ad fell flat. It didn't say much about the phone or the brand. After raising expectations for a high-impact product launch, BlackBerry didn't deliver. Instead of helping the brand, it further hurt it. People realized BlackBerry really was in deep trouble and any hopes for a quick turnaround were unfounded.

The short of it is that Super Bowl spots can help or hurt a company. As you watch the Super Bowl ads this year, think about whether the company is driving sales, having little impact or doing some damage.

Tim Calkins is a clinical professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Derek D. Rucker is the Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies in Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he teaches advertising strategy.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/01/27/4-super-bowl-ads-that-should-have-never-aired/feed/0GoDaddy super bowl 2014nt2192Samsung approached BlackBerry with a takeover bidhttp://fortune.com/2015/01/14/samsung-approached-blackberry-about-a-takeover/
http://fortune.com/2015/01/14/samsung-approached-blackberry-about-a-takeover/#commentsWed, 14 Jan 2015 20:53:15 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=944785]]>(Reuters) – Samsung Electronics recently approached BlackBerry about buying the company for as much as $7.5 billion, looking to gain access to its patent portfolio, according to a person familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters.

South Korea’s Samsung proposed an initial price range of $13.35 to $15.49 per share, which represents a premium of 38 percent to 60 percent over BlackBerry’s current trading price, the source said.

Executives from the two companies, which are working with advisers, met last week to discuss a potential transaction, the source said, asking not to be identified because the conversations are private.

Shares of Blackberry BBRY jumped as much as 30 percent on heavy volume in afternoon trading in New York.

The offer price would imply an enterprise value of $6 billion to $7.5 billion for BlackBerry, assuming conversion of $1.25 billion of convertible debt, according to the documents.

BlackBerry announced a high-profile security partnership with Samsung in November. The partnership will wed BlackBerry’s security platform with the South Korean company’s own security software for its Galaxy devices.

Representatives for BlackBerry declined to comment while Samsung could not be immediately reached for comment.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/01/14/samsung-approached-blackberry-about-a-takeover/feed/0BlackBerry Ltd. Unveils The Square-Screened Passport SmartphonerolandattimeincBlackBerry Is gearing up to enter the sizzling smartwatch scenehttp://fortune.com/2015/01/09/blackberry-is-gearing-up-to-enter-the-sizzling-smartwatch-scene/
http://fortune.com/2015/01/09/blackberry-is-gearing-up-to-enter-the-sizzling-smartwatch-scene/#commentsFri, 09 Jan 2015 13:52:39 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=937172]]>This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.

By Kim Lachance Shandrow, ENTREPRENEUR

"OK, Google. Check my BBM messages." Good news for people who own smartwatches that run on Android Wear and use BBM on their smartphones: You'll soon be able to track and respond to BlackBerry Messenger notifications right from your wrist.

Launched last March, Android Wear is Google's GOOG mobile operating system for smartwatches and other wearables, among them the LG G Watch, the Motorola Moto 360 and the Samsung Gear Live. The OS connects compatible paired smartphones and smartwatches to each other. BlackBerry says BBM for Android Wear will work with "a wide variety" of these smartwatches, though a complete list is not yet available.

The app will enable users to quickly accept or ignore BBM invites and send "canned" replies to messages on the sly, ideal for when users are too busy to BBM message by smartphone, like when they're in a meeting or in class ("Got it," "I'm busy right now. Will reply when I can," etc.). The simple, slick BBM for Android Wear will also let users quickly respond to messages hands-free via Google Voice, a voice-to-text tool that unfortunately doesn't always translate properly.

BlackBerry isn't saying exactly when its inaugural smartwatch app will land on Android Wear-ers' wrists, only that it will be available sometime early this year. At first glance, it looks like it's worth the wait.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/01/09/blackberry-is-gearing-up-to-enter-the-sizzling-smartwatch-scene/feed/0BlackBerry Ltd. Unveils The Square-Screened Passport SmartphonebgfortuneWith the Classic, BlackBerry looks back to the futurehttp://fortune.com/2014/12/30/blackberry-classic-review/
http://fortune.com/2014/12/30/blackberry-classic-review/#commentsWed, 31 Dec 2014 00:53:43 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=925621]]>In 2004 you would have been hard pressed to find me without a BlackBerry 7280 attached to my hip. In 2005 it was the smaller, SureType-equipped 7105t. In 2006 it was the Pearl 8100. In 2007 it was the Curve 8300. In 2008 it was the Storm 9530, followed by the World Edition 8830. In 2009 it was the Tour 9630. And finally, in 2010, it was the Pearl 3G 9100.

I was there through it all: the scroll wheel, the trackball, the trackpad.

I tapped out e-mails and BBM messages without even a glance at the device. I customized and memorized keyboard shortcuts to launch my favorite apps, including a few apps I had developed myself. I knew what each different LED alert color represented, and if I needed to take action. I convinced everyone from my mother to my grandfather to get a BlackBerry. I even started a dedicated BlackBerry news site, BerryScoop, where I would poke fun at the "inferior" experience on the iPhone and Verizon's Droid line of Android phones.

For a period of my life, I wanted nothing more than to see BlackBerry BBRY remain atop the smartphone food chain.

In 2010, my allegiance shifted. I started using another smartphone: Apple’s iPhone 4. The allure of a larger screen, a touch-screen interface, and superior apps made up for subpar battery life and the lack of--at the time, anyway--quality productivity apps made for Apple's mobile operating system. I’ve been using iPhones ever since.

Two weeks ago, a package from Amazon arrived at my doorstep that made me question my current smartphone choice. Inside the box: BlackBerry's latest smartphone, known simply as the Classic.

The $450 Classic is designed to resemble the BlackBerry Bold, a favorite among business executives before the company’s wares fell out of favor. If you’re an executive who had one, the Classic evokes a nostalgia akin to watching your first car drive by on the highway. The device's layout follows the traditional BlackBerry template, with a few modernizing updates. A 3.5-inch touchscreen sits just above the familiar optical trackpad, which is sandwiched between the ‘call’ and ‘menu’ keys on the left, with the ‘back’ and ‘end’ keys to the right. Underneath the navigation keys rests the tried-and-true BlackBerry keyboard. (As opposed to the other one.)

As I entered my credentials during the initial device setup, the four rows of evenly spaced keys immediately induced muscle memory. Indeed there were times when I felt like I was incoherently mashing on the keys--a transition from the touch-screen interface of my iPhone. But by the end of the first week, I was back to typing without looking. (Let me be clear: I still think the forgiving nature a digital keyboard affords us by allowing for errant typing is preferable, but the emotional bond between a user and his or her physical keyboard, even after years of separation, is a hard one to break.)

BlackBerry promises the 2515 milliamp-hour battery in the Classic holds enough juice to power you through 22 hours of use. During testing, I consistently coaxed roughly 15 hours out of it through heavy usage of social media apps such as Facebook and Twitter,email, some music playback, and SMS and BBM messaging, all of which can take a toll on any battery. Even with the seven-hour difference in real world usage versus BlackBerry's claim, I don't think it's a stretch to say the Classic’s battery will get most users through a typical work day and an early business dinner.

On the software side, the Classic is running the latest version of the BlackBerry 10 operating system--version 10.3.1 to be exact. The OS was built for navigation through a series of touch gestures. A swipe-up from the bottom of the screen to close an app. A swipe from the left-side of the screen reveals the Hub, where all of your messages are kept. Swiping in from the right or down from the top of the screen reveals a menu and settings screen, respectively. By adding a menu and back button to a BlackBerry 10 device, Classic users can almost forget about the gestures required to navigate the OS. Over time, I grew to appreciate the ability to leave my thumbs on or near the keyboard, navigating solely by physical keys and the trackpad.

The Classic's screen is larger than both the Bold 9900 and the Q10, the first BlackBerry 10 device with a physical keyboard. Still, I sometimes felt that the screen was too small. One example: when managing my inbox using BlackBerry 10's instant actions feature to quickly delete or file messages. When enabled, the instant-action icons are placed atop each message's listing towards the right side of the screen. On larger-screened BlackBerry 10 devices like the Z30 or the Passport, the actions cover up only the tail end of a message's preview. On the Classic, almost half of the message preview is covered with the buttons. I end up bouncing between my inbox and open messages in order to gather enough information to make a decision on how to handle the communication, instead of quickly glancing and dealing with it.

Despite the Classic’s dual-core, 1.5-gigahertz processor and 2 gigabytes of memory, I experienced occasional stuttering and sluggish performance when switching between apps or waiting for a message to load in the BlackBerry Hub. The delay was even more pronounced when opening an e-mail containing any sort of attachment. On one occasion the Classic slowed down to such a crawl that I felt forced to remove the battery and reboot the device. Unfortunately the battery isn't removable--old habits die hard--but I was able to hold in the power button until a restart button appeared on the screen. A few minutes later, I was back in business.

Despite the seemingly random performance issues and the cramped screen, the BlackBerry Classic is the best BlackBerry I've ever used. It's something I would have lusted and drooled over in 2010, and to a lesser extent something I find myself lusting over today, in 2014. If you’re a regular reader of this column, this may come as a shock--I did not look kindly on BlackBerry’s Passport. But the Classic is the real deal.

There’s one catch, though: I find it near impossible to re-pledge my allegiance to BlackBerry. The truth is, I'm spoiled by two competitors: Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

A lack of third-party services isn’t the only issue. Since BlackBerry’s brush with death, my friends and family members have moved on to other devices, making it a hard sale for them to download and set up BlackBerry Messenger just because I decided, yet again, to switch platforms. Their additional work would only benefit me.

So until the time comes to place the Classic back in its box and ship it back, I'll hold it close, daydreaming about what could have been. For those who have yet to taste the forbidden fruit, or those who have and still long for a physical keyboard, I’ll say it: the Classic is the BlackBerry you’ve been looking for.

Correction, December 31, 2014: An earlier version of this article misstated the release date of the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100. It was announced in April 2010 and released the following month.

"Logged In" is Fortune's personal technology column, written by Jason Cipriani. Read it on Fortune.com each Tuesday.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/12/30/blackberry-classic-review/feed/0BlackBerry Classic (2014) front widesoccerrogueHow BlackBerry could survive another yearhttp://fortune.com/2014/12/23/blackberry-survive-year/
http://fortune.com/2014/12/23/blackberry-survive-year/#commentsTue, 23 Dec 2014 23:16:46 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=919105]]>This post is in partnership with Time. The article below was originally published at Time.com

By Kevin Kelleher, TIME

John Chen isn't a CEO plagued with doubt. That's an essential quality for anyone who has taken on the formidable task of turning around around BlackBerry -- but Chen also lacks the rose-colored optimism of some turnaround CEOs who, quarter after quarter, plead with investors for just a little more time.

Chen's leadership more than anything is keeping investors from giving up on BlackBerry. When the company reported its latest quarterly earnings Friday, its stock fell 10% for an hour or two, but by the end of the day it was unchanged on the day. The stock has risen another 8% since then.

The initial selloff was triggered by revenue numbers well short of analysts' expectations. Revenue from devices like the recently launched BlackBerry Passport fell 24% to $361 million. Even worse, revenue from mobile service subscriptions fell 42%, to $368 million. Software, seen as the company's best hope for growth fell 4% to $54 million.

The stock didn't begin its slow comeback until Chen took to the phone to discuss the company's results. Chen said BlackBerry's revenue figures were "not satisfying," but he explained that the average selling price of $182 per device -- well below expectations -- was due to the company purging its inventory of older devices. The good news: BlackBerry's cache of older models has fallen 93% in the past year.

BlackBerry sold 1.9 million devices in the quarter, shipping only 200,000 units of its new Passport. But a backlog of orders meant many Passports won't be recognized as sales until this quarter. Chen also said that early orders for the BlackBerry Classic - with new technology stuffed into a familiar design - are already surpassing the Passport's early demand.

BlackBerry's decline in services revenue, however, is a long-term drain that the company has little chance of stopping. Carriers once paid BlackBerry to manage secure email and messaging, but now they can handle that themselves. So BlackBerry is now pushing software like BES12, a mobile platform aimed not at consumers but banks, healthcare companies and governments.

Many of those companies favor the mobile security that BlackBerry has long offered, something that may grow more attractive in the wake of several recent high-profile corporate hacks. Chen has said BlackBerry will double its software revenue, which currently stands at around $250 million annually, in the coming year.

Revenue fell to $793 million from $1.19 billion a year earlier, falling short of expectations. Analysts expected $931.5 million.

Cash flow was positive $43 million in the third quarter, while the company had negative cash flow of $36 million in the second quarter. BlackBerry had said it was targeting break-even cash flow by the end of the fiscal year in February 2015.

Colin Gillis, tech analyst at BGC Partners in New York, said BlackBerry Chief Executive Officer John Chen did a good job controlling expenses to boost the company’s cash pile.

“The fact that he overachieved by turning cash flow positive this quarter. That’s a great milestone,” said Gillis. “It gets easier from here.”

Excluding, a one-time non-cash debenture charge and restructuring charges, the company reported a profit of 1 cent a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S expected a loss of 5 cents.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company reported a net loss of $148 million, or 28 cents a share, in the quarter ended Nov. 29. That compared with a year-earlier loss of $4.4 billion, or $8.37 a share.

BlackBerry launched its long-awaited Classic smartphone on Wednesday, hoping to help win back market share and woo customers still using older versions of its physical keyboard devices. The phone resembles its once wildly popular Bold and Curve handsets.

BlackBerry also said Friday it has completed its acquisition of Secusmart, a privately held firm that specializes in voice and data encryption.

Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry agreed to buy the German maker of encryption and anti-eavesdropping services in July, in a move to burnish its credentials with highly security-conscious clients like government agencies. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Secusmart’s technology is being used to protect the devices of government officials in both Canada and Germany, including the BlackBerry device used by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/12/19/blackberry-reports-a-small-adjusted-profit-positive-cash-flow/feed/0BlackBerry Ltd. Unveils The Square-Screened Passport SmartphonerolandattimeincBlackberry offers iPhone users up to $550 to trade in for a Passporthttp://fortune.com/2014/11/27/blackberry-offers-iphone-users-up-to-550-to-trade-in-for-a-passport/
http://fortune.com/2014/11/27/blackberry-offers-iphone-users-up-to-550-to-trade-in-for-a-passport/#commentsThu, 27 Nov 2014 13:09:18 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=882830]]>It’s perhaps one of the most poignant holiday promotions out there this year, a reminder–if one were needed–as to just how sharply fortunes can reverse in businss.

BlackBerry Ltd BBRY is offering iPhone users lump sums of $150 to trade in their Apple smartphone in a new “trade-up” program to bolster sales of its new Passport, which the once-dominant Canadian company is hoping will make it a player again in the premium smartphone segment.

Calculating a trade-in value of up to $400 for a nearly-new iPhone 6, BlackBerry is pitching the offer as being worth up to $550.

The company is trying to build on what appeared to be a generally successful launch of the Passport in September, despite some mixed reviews. Initial sales-200,000 units in the first two days–far exceeded the company’s conservative estimates, and the device sold out within six hours on BlackBerry’s website and within 10 hours on Amazon.com.

The new offer (which is valid in North America only) helped make it the best-selling unlocked smartphone on Amazon as of Thursday morning.

BlackBerry’s overall shipments of smartphones have collapsed in the last three years as both Apple and, increasingly, Samsung Electronics Co. have eaten into its once loyal fan-base among corporate executives. From a peak of 52.3 million in 2010, shipments fell to less than 14 million in the last fiscal year.

The Passport, which features a monster 4.5″ square touch screen as well as the company’s trademark physical keyboard, is designed to sharpen the focus on executive users, especially as regards the reading and editing of spreadsheets.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/11/27/blackberry-offers-iphone-users-up-to-550-to-trade-in-for-a-passport/feed/0BRITAIN-US-IT-BUSINESS-TELECOM-BLACKBERRYgeoffreytsmithCan BlackBerry’s Samsung partnership help it woo businesses?http://fortune.com/2014/11/14/blackberry-samsung-partnership/
http://fortune.com/2014/11/14/blackberry-samsung-partnership/#commentsFri, 14 Nov 2014 15:48:01 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=866138]]>It’s been about one year since John Chen, CEO of BlackBerry, took the top job at the struggling phonemaker. Since then, he has embarked on a campaign to bring the company back to its roots and spark new innovations and partnerships where he feels necessary--in short, to make BlackBerry BBRY relevant to business users again.

To that end, this week in San Francisco Chen took the stage to make a number of announcements, including a recently-inked agreement with smartphone maker Samsung Electronics. According to the deal, both companies will sell each other’s mobile security products. (A true sign of the times: Chen joked with the audience about the fact his wife still uses a Samsung Galaxy phone.) The company also announced an updated BlackBerry Enterprise server, which will allow customers to more easily manage BlackBerries and devices made by other manufacturers.

Under Chen’s direction, BlackBerry’s losses are improving, but the company is still bleeding money and there is still plenty of cause for concern about its long-term prospects. Ahead of his announcements in San Francisco, Fortune caught up with Chen to hear more about his strategy--and Kim Kardashian.

Fortune: What does returning to BlackBerry's roots mean to you today?

Chen: The overall returning to the roots is much beyond the device. The Classic [an upcoming BlackBerry device that will bring back its traditional trackpad] is an important part but it's not the only part. Very early in my career here I talked about re-pivoting back to the enterprise. It implies not only the devices but also the enterprise using our software and server as the backbone. When BlackBerry was doing well almost everyone was running on BlackBerry enterprise server. When we lost our focus we lost quite a bit of traction and accounts. But the reason I went back to the Classic is that a tremendous number of customers want it.

In light of that “return to roots,” how do you view innovation at BlackBerry? What role does it play today?

The guiding principle of our development teams is that everybody is focused on the following pillars: security, privacy, productivity, and collaboration. We focus on all of those. For example, on BBM [BlackBerry Messenger] we just released the timed message feature--people call it the "Snapchat feature." We allow people to retract messages, not just to recall them. The whole design center is really focused on security, privacy, productivity and collaboration. We're not trying to compete on everything.

Winning back developers is another aspect of returning to BlackBerry's roots. How are you feeling about status with developer ecosystem?

There are only a handful of apps, like Facebook, that we build native. We are relying on our relationship with Amazon for the others. Everything that appears on Amazon's app store you can run on BB10 [the latest version of BlackBerry's operating system]. In doing so we free up our enterprise developer community to focus on developer platforms. On that front the re-pivoting is only six to nine months old since I came in. We have some good traction but still a lot of work to be done.

What about changing the culture and building up morale at BlackBerry? How have you re-pivoted internally too?

The traditional way for every CEO is to come in and talk about the vision; I tend to focus on execution. When morale is down and people are leaving you really need to make sure your execution is aligned. I am quite pleased that there are a lot of very loyal employees that have risen to the occasion. By returning to the roots they not only feel comfortable, but they surely understand it. The stability has to come from not only public opinion but by making money. So I'm very focused on making money. You can't keep their morale high if they keep looking over their shoulder and wondering if there will be layoffs. I took the bold statement of telling the company that we're done with the layoffs. I don't want to give the impression that morale's great. But it will be great. I expect the crossover point to happen next year, and we will turn around and make ourselves profitable. Without the results it's hard to turn around people's morale.

What's up with Kim Kardashian and BlackBerry? The reality TV star recently told a tech conference audience that she hoards BlackBerrys. How much do you love her right now?

I don't know the lady. Every time there is a die-hard fan, especially someone as well known as she is, that spontaneously and unprompted says she loves BlackBerry, I love it. I just don't know how to connect to her. Of course I love it.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/11/14/blackberry-samsung-partnership/feed/0BlackBerry Ltd. Unveils The Square-Screened Passport SmartphonemlevramBlackBerry CEO: Don’t be tempted by trendy, popular phones. Buy ours insteadhttp://fortune.com/2014/10/29/blackberry-ceo-dont-be-tempted-by-trendy-popular-phones-buy-ours-instead/
http://fortune.com/2014/10/29/blackberry-ceo-dont-be-tempted-by-trendy-popular-phones-buy-ours-instead/#commentsWed, 29 Oct 2014 17:48:42 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=841928]]>This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.

BlackBerry BBRY executive chair and CEO John Chen has written an open letter to loyal BlackBerry users (current and former), basically pleading with them to forget those shiny iPhones and buy a freakin’ BlackBerry phone already.

OK, that might be an exaggeration. But not by much.

“It's tempting in a rapidly changing, rapidly growing mobile market to change for the sake of change - to mimic what's trendy and match the industry-standard, kitchen-sink approach of trying to be all things to all people,” Chen wrote in the letter published today on BlackBerry’s blog. “But there's also something to be said for the classic adage, if it ain't broke don't fix it.”

In other words, please don’t buy an iPhone 6 or the lastest Android phone. Instead, try the forthcoming BlackBerry Classic.

By “classic,” BlackBerry apparently means throwback. Specific details about the phone aren’t clear yet, though Chen says it will come with a top row of navigation keys and a trackpad, a larger and sharper screen, a “growing” app catalogue, and it will run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

BlackBerry, of course, was a smartphone pioneer, but saw it’s market share eaten by Apple and Google. Not too long ago, BlackBerry released the awkwardly shaped BlackBerry Passport phone.

“We also recognize that a lot of you continue to hang on to your Bold devices because they get the job done, day in and day out - just like you,” Chen wrote.

Overexposed reality star Kim Kardashian recently said at a tech conference that she is still in love with her discontinued BlackBerry Bold, adding that it is her "heart and soul." Kardashian apparently keeps three in her room at all times and if one breaks she immediately searches eBay for a replacement.

Perhaps that was a coincidental plug for BlackBerry and nothing more …

In his letter, Chen continued to blast the competition while trumpeting the BlackBerrys of yore. “Innovation is a word that gets used too often and carelessly. Innovation is not about blowing up what works to make something new - it's about taking what works and making it better. … You don't reinvent yourself every day; you take what you learned yesterday and sharpen it today. You drive change - often on your terms, but sometimes not. That you keep going regardless is what distinguishes you as a grown-up. You're in it for the long haul. So is BlackBerry.”

That's the phrase I uttered to myself when I first unboxed BlackBerry's latest smartphone, the Passport.

Why should I care about the device's odd 4.5-inch square screen? Why should I care that the device is the same size and shape as its namesake? Why should I care that Amazon's App Store is preinstalled on the Passport?

Okay, okay, forgive my skepticism. There’s a lot to love about the Passport. It’s the first product launch under BlackBerry CEO John Chen, who took over the struggling company last November. In an effort to turn it around, Chen said he wanted to return to the Canadian company’s roots by providing devices and services that appeal to large companies, a.k.a. the enterprise.

BlackBerry BBRY positions its oddly shaped device--which certainly succeeds at drawing attention to the company--as the ultimate productivity tool for those who want to get work done. If the marketing sounds familiar, it is: In recent years, BlackBerry has let out a business-focused battle cry with every major product release. It’s as if the company is saying, “Please, forgive us for the pink BlackBerry Pearl Flip.” Or perhaps, “Here is a phone that won’t run Flappy Bird.”

In truth, the Passport’s screen lends itself to displaying more information without forcing you to rotate the device, as you will often do with a phone of more conventional proportions. I found the screen quality to be on par with, if not slightly better than, Apple’s iPhone and most high-end Android devices on the market.

And you know what? The Passport may be a square, but I came to appreciate its dimensions. In testing, I grew to respect its wider view, unobstructed by a digital keyboard--though I would gladly forfeit screen space to make room for a more classically sized BlackBerry keyboard. (More on that in a moment.)

I also came to appreciate a feature called BlackBerry Blend, new in version 10.3 of the company’s mobile operating system. No, it’s not some smoothie--it’s a service that allows you to access the content and messages on your phone from your desktop computer, even if you’ve left it at home (or in the car, or in your office desk drawer). After a few initial connection hiccups, I found myself frequently connecting to the Passport from my Apple Mac desktop computer and Apple iPad.

As for that keyboard: It’s much different than the physical keyboards found on other BlackBerry devices. The Passport’s keyboard is limited to three rows (the classic BlackBerry arrangement is four). The bottom row is split by a spacebar. The shift and symbol keys, normally found flanking the space bar, now reside on the screen in digital form.

Like most people, I use a virtual keyboard on my personal phone. I found it a struggle to readjust to a physical keyboard. The first day I felt like I was blindly mashing the keys in an effort to elicit coherent words from it. (Luckily, BlackBerry 10 includes a mechanism to correct misspelled words, even when a physical keyboard is used.) The pain eased over time. Still, I’m not sure that traditional BlackBerry users who are quick to profess admiration for the classic BlackBerry keyboard would be singing praises of the Passport’s version.

Moreover, the Passport’s keyboard has a secondary function: it’s a covert trackpad. You can swipe your finger over it to scroll through spreadsheets, navigate emails, and delete words. With a double tap, activate the text selection tool to precisely edit a document.

Once you find the functionality, it’s a novelty--then it wears off. I found it awkward to ignore a fully capable touchscreen to use the keyboard as a trackpad. What’s more, I repeatedly activated the text selection tool as I deliberately typed, which changed the focus of the cursor and thus the destination of my entered text. Frustrating.

I wanted to love the ingenuity of the Passport’s combination trackpad-keyboard, but I failed to have the "Aha!" moment I was so desperately looking for.

By the end of my testing, I wasn't sad to put the Passport down. It’s hard not to respect the device’s bold departure from norms in the category, and there’s clearly a niche market for a device like this. But for the vast majority of BlackBerry users still clutching legacy devices, the Passport is not the BlackBerry you're looking for. And for those who have moved on to other platforms? It’s difficult to go back.

Why should we care about the Passport? After spending quality time with it, I still don't have a solid answer to that question. I do know people are talking about it, and by extension, its maker. Now that I think about it, perhaps that was the point.

"Logged In" is Fortune's personal technology column, written by Jason Cipriani. Read it on Fortune.com each Tuesday.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/10/14/review-blackberry-passport/feed/0BlackBerry Passport (front) (wide)soccerrogueIs BlackBerry’s Passport hip, or just square?http://fortune.com/2014/09/26/is-blackberrys-passport-hip-or-square/
http://fortune.com/2014/09/26/is-blackberrys-passport-hip-or-square/#commentsFri, 26 Sep 2014 16:21:14 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=800996]]>The reviews are in for the BlackBerry Passport, and by and large they just aren’t very good.

The one-time heavyweight champion of the smartphone market is trying to gain back some of the ground it has ceded in recent years to Apple AAPL and Android phones. If the techie press is to be believed, though, it probably won’t. Here are a few of the not-so-nice things people have to say about the strangely square gadget.

Wall Street Journal writer and former BlackBerry BBRY fiend Joanna Stern writes that “even if I did carry two phones, I wouldn’t pick the Passport. The bulky, awkward design and the unfamiliar keyboard make it hard to justify finding space for it in a pocket or bag.” She also says that the “frankenkeyboard” partially made up of tactile keys and partially a touchscreen is “harder to get used to than it may sound. I liken it to coming home to find your living room is now your bedroom and your bedroom is your bathroom.”

Pete Pachal at Mashable finds some definite strengths in the phone -- namely its powerful computing -- but thinks that the weirdness is just too much: “There’s no escaping the fact that this is a very strange phone, and an unwieldy one at that. Even power users will need to rethink how they type on the keyboard to take full advantage of it. If you have that patience, the Passport has to goods to level up your BlackBerry experience. For everyone else, though, it’s just too bizarre to take seriously.”

Reviewers in BlackBerry’s native land of Canada aren’t loving the Passport either. Raju Mudhar at the Toronto Star says the phone “is reminiscent of an old school calculator.”

Re/Code’s review notes that watching videos on the square screen isn’t ideal: “When I switched to full-screen mode in Netflix, the scenery on the left and right sides got cut off. Meanwhile, in YouTube, there was a lot of black space above and below the picture.”

The phone “like a giant square drink coaster,” according to Dan Seifert at The Verge. He adds that while some people may like the phone, “awkward dimensions and confusing interfaces aside, the Passport's biggest failure is that it just doesn't have what I need to get my job done.”

Gizmodo is also quite negative, saying right in its title that Blackberry’s best effort “isn’t good enough.” The review highly recommends not buying the phone, saying that “if you want to stand out, the Passport carries some ‘WTF is that?’ appeal, but its usefulness is outweighed by its setbacks.”

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/09/26/is-blackberrys-passport-hip-or-square/feed/0BRITAIN-US-IT-BUSINESS-TELECOM-BLACKBERRYbgfortuneBlackBerry faces steep challenge as it aims for turnaroundhttp://fortune.com/2014/09/26/blackberry-narrower-loss/
http://fortune.com/2014/09/26/blackberry-narrower-loss/#commentsFri, 26 Sep 2014 12:47:38 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=800856]]>BlackBerry Ltd. has had a busy week -- it debuted a new smartphone called the Passport and reported a narrower quarterly loss. But do those rosy headlines suggest a turnaround is underway?

Not necessarily. The Canada-based company on Friday reported it recognized hardware revenue on about 2.1 million smartphones for the quarter ended Aug. 30, a tiny figure compared to the over 10 million smartphones Apple AAPL sold over the weekend after the debut of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. BlackBerry’s quarterly revenue plunged 42% to $916 million from the year-ago level.

Of course, this reversal of fortunes isn’t a surprise. BlackBerry’s worldwide smartphone market share is under 1%, according to data from research firm International Data Corporation, far less than Apple’s hold on about 12% of the market. BlackBerry’s market share was a far more sturdy 13.6% just three years ago, signifying just how quickly things can turn sour for a smartphone maker when it falls out of favor.

BlackBerry BBRY is hoping to change all that with the launch of its 4.5-inch square-shaped Passport, touting the device’s larger screen and apps geared to professionals that have defected to other devices. As Fortunereported last month, BlackBerry is hoping government, finance and health care workers will find the device’s unorthodox dimensions ideal for their work.

The device is off to a fairly decent start, according to CNET, which reports 200,000 BlackBerry Passport smartphones have been ordered since launch.

Investors have bought into the BlackBerry turnaround story before, only to be burned later when reality set in. The company’s shares rose in the months leading up to the company’s launch of a new operating system, called BlackBerry 10, which was unveiled in 2013. Investors had placed a big bet that plan could work, sending BlackBerry’s [then known as Research in Motion] shares up 59% in the 12 months before issuing quarterly results in June. Disappointing sales of the Z10 phone resulted in shares tumbling some 28%.

Stocks are set to move higher Friday after Thursday's pounding, which saw the Dow fall 264 points. All 30 companies in the Dow index lost value in Thursday’s sell-off, which was one of the year's worst trading days. Here’s what you need to know about today.

1. The economy gets a report card

A third, and final, estimate of U.S. GDP for the second quarter came out this morning. Just as economists had predicted, growth was revised up to a 4.6 percent pace from the previous 4.2 percent number. The economy had a pretty good spring, so it would have taken a very good report for expectations to be exceeded.

2. Is BlackBerry back?

That may be an overstatement, but the beleaguered Canadian smartphone company posted its latest earnings report today, and the losses were only $0.02 per share. That’s an improvement, if nothing else. If the new BlackBerry BBRY Passport smartphone catches on, could the onetime smartphone king really come back from the brink?

3. Apple is striking back

Speaking of smartphone manufacturers with problems, Apple AAPL says the issues with the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. The company says only 9 users reported bent iPhones, contrary to the reports of an epidemic. The company also released a cleaned-up version of the new iOS, fixing the issues that essentially broke some users’ phones earlier this week.

4. Is Europe a beacon of light for the Dow?

Markets are up across Europe, including in the UK, Germany and France. With the Dow finishing down again yesterday, could these good results across the pond be signs of a potential rally to close out the week?

5. Steve Balmer bans Apple products

It’s a pretty common sight to see basketball coaches using iPads court side to draw up plays. LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers will have to find a new tablet, because new owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Reuters he’s banning Apple products from his new team.

Stocks look set to rise Wednesday following the Dow's first set of triple-digit losses in months, although anyone involved with the markets is likely keeping a close high on what’s happening in Syria (some markets in Europe are down again today.) Here’s what else you need to know today.

1. Saks is going downtown

Saks 5th Avenue, for some the ultimate name in luxury shopping, is opening a second store in New York City. The department store’s new location will be in Brookfield Place, the newly renovated and renamed office and retail space in downtown Manhattan, near the World Trade Center.

2. India joins the Mars club

India put a spacecraft in orbit around Mars early this morning, becoming the first country to do so on its first attempt -- and also doing so for the least money. India spent $74 million to get its craft to orbit the red planet, compared with the $671 million NASA spent to get its Maven craft into orbit just days ago. India also spent less than the $100 million Hollywood spent to have Sandra Bullock and George Clooney pretend to be in space in Gravity, according to The Wall Street Journal.

3. Starbucks is buying back Japan

Since 1995, Starbucks has existed in Japan as a joint venture with Sazaby League. No more. The Seattle coffee giant is buying back the 60.5% of Starbucks Japan it doesn’t own for $913.5 billion. That’s a lot of lattes.

4. Citizens is hitting the market

After all the craziness behind last week’s Alibaba IPO, the start of trading for Citizens Financial Group today is fairly muted. The offering will be the second-biggest in the U.S. this year, but it priced below the expected range and will raise only $3 billion rather than the expected $3.5 billion.

5. Is Blackberry back?

Maybe. The onetime king of smartphones will debut its new Passport today in Toronto, London and Dubai. The device features a square screen and a touch-sensitive tactile keyboard. If the Canadian company formerly known as Research in Motion has any chance of a rebound, it has to start here.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/09/24/starbucks-and-mars-orbits-5-things-to-know-today/feed/0Newly Opened Shopping Complexes Attract Customers In ShibuyabgfortuneWith BlackBerry’s Passport, hope for a silver bullethttp://fortune.com/2014/08/20/with-blackberrys-passport-hope-for-a-silver-bullet/
http://fortune.com/2014/08/20/with-blackberrys-passport-hope-for-a-silver-bullet/#commentsWed, 20 Aug 2014 21:04:34 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=771893]]>BlackBerry may be on the ropes, but the company hasn’t lost the will to fight.

Next month, the company is expected to release the Passport, a new model of smartphone that fuses the company’s signature QWERTY keyboard, slimmed to three rows and strictly alphabetical, with an unusual 4.5-inch square display. The device has been called a “phablet,” the term for a tablet-like smartphone, though it is comparatively squat. It’s best suited for the inside pocket of a jacket.

Which is exactly the point. The Waterloo, Canada-based company BBRY hopes that its device will be used by the enterprise customers it lost in recent years as it failed to keep pace with rivals like Apple and Google. BlackBerry hopes that government, finance, and health care workers find the device’s unorthodox dimensions ideal for their work.

"It's great to see BlackBerry step outside of its comfort zone and forge its own path in terms of design," says Ramon Llamas, an analyst for the market research firm IDC. "Passport won't get confused with previous BlackBerry models like the Bold and Q10, and the large screen keeps BlackBerry in pace with the competition."

Keeping pace may not be enough. For the second quarter of 2014, BlackBerry’s global market share, as measured by shipments, was a paltry 0.5%, according to IDC estimates, down from its all-time high of 20% five years ago. Still, strong single digits may be enough to convince shareholders that the company is making the right decisions.

"By going back to their enterprise client base, CEO John Chen is being realistic with what he can accomplish," says Wayne Lam, a telecom electronics analyst at IHS. "But unless he can stop enterprise customers from jumping ship and having the BB10 operating system decline into irrelevance, no measure of design innovation can really help him remain viable."

Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner, concurs: "The issue will be the Blackberry 10 software. While well designed, it suffers from a lack of applications and doesn't have the funding that Microsoft, Apple, and Google have."

Or the partnerships. In July, Apple AAPL and IBM IBM announced a partnership in which IBM would sell Apple’s iPhone and iPad, loaded with IBM applications for data analysis, to business customers. It’s a move that gives Apple serious support in a market where it traditionally has been weak and, it’s no coincidence, where BlackBerry has traditionally been strong.

"This move is a huge danger for BlackBerry," Lam says. "If IBM can help legitimize the use of iPhones and iPads in enterprise, BlackBerry will be left with nowhere else to go."

BlackBerry’s CEO Chen, who was officially named to the post in November, has never predicated his turnaround strategy on a massive revival of smartphone sales. Instead he worked to turn BlackBerry Messenger, an application that continues to be a point of differentiation for the company thanks to industry-leading security and encryption for wireless text and e-mail communications, into a significant source of revenue by signing licensing deals with Android and Apple.

Further, BlackBerry's QNX software division--named for the operating system it acquired in 2010--is developing new technologies for the automotive and cloud-services industries. "Chen is opening BlackBerry to more ecosystem partners, which in turn adds value to the BlackBerry solution," Llamas says.

But that doesn’t mean Chen wouldn’t like to see BlackBerry smartphones take a new lease on life--especially now that profit margins have been greatly improved by his decision to outsource manufacturing to Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group.

"What BlackBerry needs to do is focus the value proposition they offer to enterprise as well as their renowned security capabilities," Lam says. "They need to win in offering the better solution to Fortune 500 companies. The hardware innovations are just the icing on the cake." Still, how sweet it would be.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/08/20/with-blackberrys-passport-hope-for-a-silver-bullet/feed/0BlackBerry Passport (white)soccerrogueYour BlackBerry is about to get a lot more securehttp://fortune.com/2014/07/29/your-blackberry-is-about-to-get-a-lot-more-secure/
http://fortune.com/2014/07/29/your-blackberry-is-about-to-get-a-lot-more-secure/#commentsTue, 29 Jul 2014 19:31:02 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=756942]]>BlackBerry said Tuesday it will acquire Secusmart GmbH, a company that specializes in high-security voice and data encryption services. The company primarily provides anti-eavesdropping technology for governmental organizations in Germany and around the world.

Specific terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The addition of Secusmart’s software is expected to be a core piece of BlackBerry’s BBRY appeal to high-profile officials and agencies going forward.

BlackBerry, which calls itself the phone of choice for government agencies globally, says it has “more security certifications than any other vendor” in the industry. The partnership with Secusmart reinforces that idea.

"We are always improving our security solutions to keep up with the growing complexity of enterprise mobility," said John Chen, the BlackBerry CEO, in a statement.

BlackBerry and Secusmart have been partners since 2009. The move means that the phone company is showing signs of life after struggling over the last few years against its smartphone competitors, including Apple and Samsung.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/07/29/your-blackberry-is-about-to-get-a-lot-more-secure/feed/0Technology Icon MediumsnyderfortuneWhy is BlackBerry’s stock up 45% this year?http://fortune.com/2014/07/08/blackberry-stock-up-45/
http://fortune.com/2014/07/08/blackberry-stock-up-45/#commentsTue, 08 Jul 2014 22:34:52 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=740951]]>BlackBerry is far from what it used to be, but based on its stock performance this year, the smartphone maker isn’t ready for a burial just yet.

BlackBerry BBRY shares have climbed nearly 47% this year to $10.94 on Tuesday. That’s pretty remarkable performance for any stock, let alone that of a company many shrugged off as irrelevant and nearly defunct. BlackBerry’s U.S. market share among smartphones is an anemic 2.3% versus Android’s 52.1% and Apple’s 41.9%, according to comScore.

Are rebounding shares one sign of a possible BlackBerry comeback? Not necessarily. Although investors are clearly excited about something happening over at Waterloo.

“The primary thing they’ve done is cut costs,” says Ken Dulaney, a vice president at Gartner, a tech research firm. In May, BlackBerry began selling the Z3 smartphone exclusively in Indonesia. The 5-inch, touchscreen device is more notable for its affordability – it costs $190 – than features. It was also one of the first products to emerge from a partnership with Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer responsible for churning out iPads, iPhones, and Kindle e-readers. Previously, BlackBerry contracted out its phone manufacturing, but a new partnership with Foxconn – a notoriously efficient business – is intended to be more cost-efficient in the face of declining revenues, which plunged 69% to $966 million during BlackBerry’s first quarter.

“Investors don’t care if it [BlackBerry] goes out of business in the next two years,” explains Dulaney. “If there’s a perception that it’s doing better for a period of time, they can invest in it.”

Besides slashing costs, Chen has also expressed interest in finding new ways for BlackBerry to make money. It’s banking on new devices for emerging markets where the brand remains more widely-used, as well as better enterprise software that is due out by the end of the year.

That may not be enough. While Dulaney suggests BlackBerry give up trying to own the software operating system its devices run for the more popular Android he suggests a more radical approach: splitting the company up so products like its messaging service, which still has 80 million-plus users monthly, have a better shot at surviving without the pressures of a larger company in turn-around mode.

Adds Dulaney: “If BlackBerry wants to stay a single entity, they’ll need to sell millions and millions more devices.” Possible, but more and more unlikely as the competition’s prices continue to drop.